Get Stuffed: Learning About Taxidermy in London

Please note: This being an article about taxidermy, means there are photos up ahead that some may consider to be quite graphic. If it’s something you don’t think you’ll be able to stomach (or don’t approve of) – don’t read this post!

One of the finished products while learning about taxidermy in London.

I’ve always been fascinated by the practice of taxidermy – particularly in times gone past. People would hunt the animal and eat the meat, but use the whole animal in a way that seems far less wasteful.

I eat meat, but I think it’s important to remember that what you were eating was once a living thing and that as much as the animal should be used as possible. It’s why I never shy away from eating offal or other less frequently eaten parts of livestock – not only is it delicious, but the less of the animal that goes to waste, the better.

We arrived to 24 empty seats, scalpel and mouse laid out in front of us. The mice were long dead – having once been destined for snake food, they’d been frozen and were thawing out in the classroom.

Taxidermy is as you can imagine, a tricky process.

We spent the first two hours of the class painstakingly removing the skin from the carcass. This was a delicate operation – the main operative was to attempt to not break through the very thin membrane which encases all the mouse organs.

Being a bit of a clumso by nature, I worked slowly, making sure not to cause any breakage to this membrane. Others weren’t so lucky – diving into it a little too eagerly, they ended up with somewhat of a mess.

My mouse skin – washed, blow-dried and ready to go.

After we’d separated the skin entirely from the carcass, we had a short break. From there, we washed the mouse skin thoroughly in soap, water and alcohol, before painstakingly drying it with a blowdryer. Then it was time to stuff the mouse, so that it could take on its final form.

It was easier said than done, to say the least. I’d admittedly breezed through the process of separating the mouse skin from the body (glad to see that after school job I had for eighteen months of gutting fish finally paid off), but had great difficulties with the actual process of taxidermy. My mouse was tiny, which didn’t help.

My mouse, dubbed “Cecilia”.

We’d used wood shavings to form the inner body, melding the head into shape with clay. After dressing that part, we used wires to set the hands and legs and a pipe cleaner for the tail. That was the hardest bit and many members of the class had issues with getting the wire in, without breaking the tail away from the body. We then had to sew the skin closed. I worked slowly and managed to get there in the end, one small victory for the day.

Having not had the foresight to bring props for our mice to the class, the day was saved by another classmate, who’d ordered a bunch of clothes and accessories off the internet.

I selected a smart little purple dress and popped it over my mouse, dubbing her ‘Cecilia’ in the process. Props to the guy next to me who had the best accessories by far – his little bespectacled mouse was holding a newspaper, with a collection of wine bottles at his feet.

My little taxidermy mouse Cecilia and her pal Bjorn Bjornsson.

The five hour class was over, but a new problem had presented itself – however would we get Cecilia and Bjorn home? Having no car, nor box to put them in, we had to resort to the Tube.

Having lived in London, I’ve seen some weird stuff on the Tube and know for the fact that you have to go the extra mile to get a reaction out of anyone else sharing the carriage with you. Well, it took three years but that day had finally come. People as it turns out, will be slightly weirded out if you march on a train carrying a taxidermied mouse wearing a purple dress in your hand.

My favourite reaction by far came from two Italian ladies. They were whispering to each other in their native tongue, having no idea that my very clever and linguistically gifted friend could perfectly understand what they were saying:

“Are those mice dead?”

“Do you think they’re real?”

“Do you think they KILLED them?”

“Why is that one wearing a dress?!”

Cecilia catches the Tube for the first time and has a glass of red after a long day.

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LC can often be found nursing a cup of green tea, with her head in a book. She is a writer, video editor and professional cheese eater. Her life's aspiration is to one day live on a farm in Tasmania with 11 dogs, a Shetland pony and several pygmy goats.

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Taxidermy has always creeped me out, but I have to admit that Cecilia and Bjorn do look rather cute. Maybe it’s the outfits that make them look less creepy? I can imagine that taxidermy creatures would garner some bemused looks and comments on the Tube!

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Hello, my name is LC. I’m passionate about the environment, green tea, brunch (the most beloved meal of any urban Australian), travel, books and photography. This is where I write about all things sustainable, backyard travel in Oz and odd things to do and eat around the world. Oh and I’m crazy about birds.